Bundling-machine.



R. G. LOWRY & F. EMMERICH.

BUNDLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16, 1911.

1,026,754. Patent ed May 21, 1912.

N 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

R. G. LOWRY & F. BMMERIGH.

BUNDLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.16, 1911.

1,026,754. Patented May 21, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ATTORNEYS R. C. LOWRY & F. EMMERICH.

BUNDLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16, 1911.

Patented May 21, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ATTORNEYS WITNE SE81 binding or tying withjwireartieles, suchas To all whbm it mag "concerns i stratrns Parana: OFFICE. nonsn'r Lower, r ronx mnyinginnmc rnirnnmcn.or saooxrrn, Nsw

Be it known that we, Romnrr (i Lownr .and FREDERICK" EMMERICH, citizens of the United Statesyresidi'ng' 1n-New=York city.

and Brooklyn, New York', respectively,ihave invented certain'ne'w and useful' lmprovementsin Bundling-Machines; andi-we do. hereby declare the'following to'be' 'a full;

clear, and exact descripition ofthe invention, such as Wlll enableot The invention relates tof' machines for" shipping boxes, whereby the; unauthorized and undetected opening 'ofsuchiboxes' during shipment is prevented; or "for'binding ors with wire 'bundles -1 of'-' laths, i box-f shoo s, loose stock inthe formof stripsor illustrated herein asap lied particularly to improvements 'i-n "mac ines of-the t pe shown and described' in United- States t-s ters Patentto Lowry' and' Reynolds BNO.

' 799174 of September 12,1905; and Lowry and tyin li'lanlcs'," and-the like; *TItisdeScribed and lVinter No. 972389 of October 1 1, 1910 and n United States application for Letters Patent of Lowry and Winter, Ser. No. 582169 filed September 15, 1910, but the improvements herein described are to some extent applicable generally to bundling machines. of other types.

The bundling machines of the particular ty )0 referred to are provided with a bundlm table suitably supported on legs, a vertical ly reciprocating head-plate carrying presscr-arms adapted to clamp the bundle on the table within a loop of binding wire, a twister adapted to twist together the end of the loop'to complete the tie, and a rotatable wire recl from which the wire is drawn to form the binding 'loop. The machine described in the application above referred to is also provided with gripper mechanism for gripping the wire and forcing it back to tightly draw the wire about the bundle, 'with mechanism to prevent over-running of the wire reel, and with mechanism associated with the gripper for winding up on the reel surname-Macrame. ,4

ers'skilled in the artto which it appertainsltofmake and useFthe" same I k on tdrthe. lwire ereel this "excess of wire was 'drawni oifto form the loop, sothat in -the- -particular' combination with; the mechaznisn -zofgthesaid application the use of the bundle itis'convenientto make the loop considerably-larger thanthe bundle so that the bundle may-beeasily'passed through it, and that-involves drawing oif from-the reel considerably more wire than is" necessary to form-qthe loop-,f so that in the-apparatus of .thetbefore-mention'ed application the grip pa mechanism had to be repeatedly actuated to draw thiswire back on to the reel be- 3 fore the? a c t-nal-. tightening. operation to which thegripper mechanism is best. adapted,rwasperfor nedn; The presentinvention providesnieans for automatically taking up w no 1 "S peeiflcatio zi q'f Letters Iatent. PatentedMay 21, 1912, v Application filed mat 1a, 1911. Serial no. 814,820. I

grippe'nimcchanism is substantially confined &

to the actual-operation of drawing the wire :tight -aboutithe bundle, and is not relied iupon for'ft-liei purpose of winding up the wire i 'on the 'reelto any (great extent.

Where the 'OPGI'tItlOlILOf *rewm ing this excess wire is so made'automatic itlbecomes increasingly important toso guide the wire about the bundle that it will always lie at right angle to the axis thereof. In" the prior patents and applications referred to arrangements were shown for ,guiding the part ofthe wire which underlies the bundle,- and the hand of the operator was to a great extent'relied upon to uide the wire straight at the front upper e ge of the bundle and across its top. In accordance with the present invention and in association with the automatic means for drawing back the excess wire, there is provided supplemental means for guiding the wire across the top of the bundle.

The drawings accompanying this specification illustrate the improvements referred to as applied to the machine of the Lowry and lVinte'r application Serial No. 582169.

In these drawingsFigure 1, is a side elevation of the complete machine with a bundle in place and the wire drawn tightly about it; Fig. 2 is a plan View of the same with the wire reel removed and its supporting mechanism shown in section; Fig. 8 is a front end elevation; Fig. 4 is a sectional plan on a larger scale at the point indicated by the section lines 4--4 on Fig. l; Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the gripper mechanism on the line 55 of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a sectional plan of the-mechanism for engag ing the wire reel support to'rewind the wire, the section being ta en on the hne 6-6 of a Fig. 7 Fig. .7 is an elevation partly insection of the wire reel and its supporting and actuating mechanism; and Fig. 8 is a "detail perspective view of the lever for throwing.

back the reel, and its associated collar.

For. the purpose of making the resent descri tion complete in itself we will first desori e the bundling machine'as it: is :-dis-" closed in the above-mentioned application of Lowryand Winter, though it-willbe understood that the improvements which will be afterward described and claimed are to some 'extent applicable to 'quitendifierent tural embodiment, as well asthe structural embodiment of-that machine, may be con 7 'siderablywaried. :The-machine has: actrame thewmachine by=the upper--T-'1rons e-w these castings at the upper edges thereof, ex-

' overlie the tops of thestandards-and form the upper surface of the framework, andbyz theintermediate angle irons f which constitute braces. I The bundle table. ist'eformed of two heavy castings g-and .g, extending;

transversel of the'machine and-bolted to the upper anges of the T-irons 0. Between tend a series of rollers h. Six are shown in the drawing, though more or less may be employed. These rollers constitute the undling table and, by reason of the fact that they are rotatably mounted, it becomes easy to roll a bundle into position beneath the twister. For the purpose of securely clamping the bundle in position on the table durin the twisting operation, the headlate a which carries the twister and which is so mdunted that it may be reciprocated vertically, also carries forwardly projecting pressure arms 1 to press down upon the undle when it is in position on the table and clamp it thereon.

The manner of mounting and mode of operation of the head-plate i'will be understood from Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, from which it will be seen that the plate is adjustably mounted ii a frame 5', which is capable of moving vertically in guide-ways in a cast in; j, which may be made integral with, 0: supported on, the cross-bar (l which joins the standards I I). The frame i has a (lework which :may aconveniently be imade i of, suitably shaped and-.iassembledclengths of- W angle 31 iron; Thus, as" :illustrated'.:, in the drawing, there are three 'pairs of standards, a, I? and c,=the two-standards-of :each pair being tied together transversely :ofthe ma-.- chine by angle iron cross braces .-'d,..:and-'.the,- 1 *sets 0f standards z'together-longitudinallK; 0g,

pending tongue 5 by which it is reciprocated vertically through the foot levers-and connecting mechanism shownbest in Fi s.

seen that there is a: [shaft Ik'i-journaled in bearings in cross-bars k. extending between the-standards a uandh'b. Fixed to this shaft, at the forward end, are two foot levers or treadles Z Z, and fixed to the-shaft at its rear end is a lever arm m having a slot which receives a pivot pin n of the toggle mechanism comprising the two=arms-n and n. ofgwhichathe arm n is fastened at its upper end to-the stationary'casting' and the arm n'-.is'- fastened at. its loweraendto the lower extremity' of thetongue' 11?. When the-short treadlell. is pressed .down,-. the:tog-

.zgle is turned to theleft,. .as .shown..nrFig. 3,

'. and "the iframe l 11; carrying uvith. it. the head iplataiaand thetwisteranountedonfthe upper end I thereof, -is7-.-'elevated by Tithe (springs 0 .--which are gfastened at hthellt lower ends to .the frame .iiandatrtheirau er ends to a cross: ban of the, ,machine, ,hen @the .long

i'treadle 1ft, ,isapressed ga es, sthe ,l-toggle .is

thrown to the otherside' of the center, therebptdepressing the frames of ,the' head- ;p ate.,;o,-and :twister,...;and ,by. contact ,of the pped Je aby 1 1. ce t Len the .rhead-splate s retained in depressed ,p'osition.

Extendin' aforwardly;.from r end "come down :upon the, undle to l'cla'mp it in -pl!1C6,'{8 S illustrated F g' -1 iTlirange of movement. ,of? these parts such, as .to permit-*theaready, placing of :aL bundIefEof predetermined s1ze.beneath the presser arms I, when the head-plate is .in its T elevated .posi- :tion, but to clamp the; bundle firmly-on the table when the head-plate is depressed. By virtue of'the toggle arran ement the parts stayin the position towhic they have been brought, and it is not necessary that the op erator should keep his foot upon the treadle or otherwise lock it in depressed position.

If thesize of thebundle to be tied is materially changed, it is necessary to adjust the position of the slide '5 in the frame 5. For this purpose there are provided journal bearings p, with lock pins p, extending from the frame 2', and in these bearings is journaled a shaft having outside of the frame of the machine a hand-wheel g and carrying a pinion 1- which meshes with a rack r on the slide 2'. When theslidez'is to be adjusted in the frame 11, the locking pins p are loosened and the hand-wheel q turned so that,by the turnin of the pinion r in engagement with the rac 1" proper adjustment is .made. The locking pins p are then re-set to lock the parts in adjusted position.

- of the sli e .iqare: the.v pres'si': arms "1 which For the. purpose of twisting together the two ends of the wire loop after it has been ing dog w, which is in turn act-uatedby a placed about the bundle and for. cutting the two ends to complete the tie, there ispros vided a twister which is fully illustratedin Figs. 1, 2. and'3. From these figures it will be seen that at the center of theupper ex tremity of the head-plate z' the head-plateis' cutaway to form lips 8 which are continued.

into register with a slot 8 in a rotatable twister head a This-twister head,,is journaled in the head-plated and has on its periphery gear teeth '0 which mesh with corresponding teeth on a large hand-wheel '0 so that for each revolution of the handends of the wire lie in the slot 8 the ends willbe twisted together, aswill be understood.

The mechanism for cutting oil the wire comprises a blade 'w actuated by a swingcam '10 on the front end of the hand-wheel shaft, so that at the end of the rotation the blade is advanced to cut off the wire. The

hand-wheel 1: is then turned in the reverse direction until the straight side of the cam w lies against the lower end of dog w in which position the slot 8 will register with the opening between the lips s. It will be seen that, as shown in Fig. 1, the bottom-of the slot 8' is well below the under surface of the presser arms Z so that the twist is pivot to force the upper strand of the bind ing wire down below the edge of thebundle into the twisting position.

The reel for the binding wire is adjust ably mounted on an upright rod or post in a bracket at the rear end of the machine, as shown in Fig. 1. It comprises a base plate A having four slots in which are arranged four upright tapering posts A having laterally extending feet, as shown, and provided with locking nuts to hold them in adjusted position, as best seen in Fig. 7. To provide a level support for the wire in which it will not catch, it is advisable to drop down over the posts A, so as to rest on the feet, an annular thin metal plate A, as shown. On this plate the wire will rest smoothly and in conjunction with the ap-.

paratnsabout to be described, the plate assists in preventing overrunning and tan.- gling of the wire.

Extending from the head plate 1' and on the bar B is a gripping device made upof a sliding block C, with which coacts to ,loo

stil further tightened, as will be under stood.

bind the wire, a pivoted gripping cam Cv connected." by the link; .0 to the lever D which has a forwardly. extending handle, as

shown in Fig. 1, so that it may be' within the-reaeh-of ano erator at the front end of the-machine. his lever ispivoted at D to adepending'arm D attached to the outer end of the' bar. B, and this bar and the depending arm arebracedand stayed by adiagonally extending brace E,as shown in Fig. 1.. For thepurpose of. further stiff.- ening these parts and bracing the reciprocatinglwad-plate i, the transverse bar. F is bolted to the to surfaces'of the longitudinal frame mem 'ers e, and this bar carries a heavy upright F which enga es with and braces the bracket arm .13, which is provided witha guiding groove which receives the upright, as shown inFig. .2. It will be. understoodat once, that this construction is such that when the lever D is drawn forward the gripping cam D is turned into such a position that it does not grip the wire, and the block Cslides freely vforward on the bar B. On the backward movement of the leverD the gripping cam is turned into such a position as to grip the wire and it pulls thewire backward toward the wire reel, thereby tightening it about the bundle. When the wire has been drawn as tight as possible, the clamp C still retains its ipping position,-so that when the hande w is throwndown to cause the clamping dog a:

to force the upper strand of the wire down below the upper edge of the bundle, the

of binding wire about, the bundle is Itis important in a machine of this type, to provide means to prevent overrunning of the wire reel and the unwinding of an undue amount of wire which would become tangled'a-nd would interfere with the next bindingoperation. This is particularly important in view of the fact that in the normal operation of the machine, it is necessary for each bond or tie to draw oil in the first instance a greater quantity of. wire than is actually employed in making the bond or tie after the wire has been tightened about the bundle. In the machine of the above mentioned application, this is provided for. in the following manner On the upright post which supports the wire reelthere is a retaining collar on which rests the hub of a ratchet disk G which is free to turn upon the post. The upper face of this ratchet disk G is provided with a friction disk of rubber, leather or the like, as seen in Fig. 7, and upon this rests the hub of the wire reel A. Above the upper face of the base plate of the wire rcelis a second retaining collar H, which is pressed down before it is fastened in place, sufiiciently to give the necessary friction. Turning loosely on the on a collar J is a lever arm J which is connected by link L to lever D. The arm J carries a pawl K pressed by spring K into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet disk G. The object of this connection is to turn the wire reel to wind up the wire as it is-drawn back by the manipulation of handle D. v

It is of great-importance that the loop of wire which is to bind the bundle should be held exactly at right angles to the axis of the bundle during the bundling operation and for this purpose the rollers h of the roller table are arranged in the supporting castings g and g in such manner that the middle rollers have anopen slot or space between them, and at one or both ends of this slot, exactly in line with the axis of the twister (see Fig. 2) is a spring clip M which grips the loop and holds the lower part of it in the proper position. These clips also have the additional advantage that they hold the loop open out of the way of the advancing bundle and enable the operator by pulling the Wire with a jerk out of the clips, to draw it more tightly about the bundle than would otherwise be possible. These clips add very greatly to the successful operation of the machine in prac- The machine, as above described, with the exception of certain modifications in the support 'for the wire reel, corresponds to the machine illustrated and described in the applicationof Lowry and Winter, above referred to, and with that machine the operation of tying bundles is as follows: The hand-wheel 41 having been brought to such position that the radial slot 8 in the twister registers wit-h the lips a, a loop'of the binding wire is formed by grasping the end of the wire in front of the forward guide B and drawing from the reel enough wire to form a large open loop. The end of the wire is then laid in the slot 8 with its extremity projecting out of the back end thereof and bent laterally. The loop is then pressed down to the bottom of the slot and between the jaws of the spring clamp M which is next to the head-plate. In this way that side of the loop is kept out of the path of the oncoming bundle. The other side of the loop may also be towed. into the spring clamp M at the front of the bundling table, if such a clamp is provided, thcrebv further insuring the proper position of the loop and its freedom from interference with the bundle. The bundle is then run onto the table through the loop, is pressed back against the face of the head-plate as shown in Fig. 1, and the treadle Z is thrown down to depress the head-plate and bring the presser arms Z into clamping engagement with the top of the bundle. The operator then grasps the front side of the wire loop and pulls it with a short jerk, tightly about the back of the bundle and at the same time manipulates the lever D several times to draw the wire tightly over the top of the bundle and wind it back upon the reel. This operation is usually completed by a series of short, quick movements of the lever D, resulting in jerks on the binding wire to draw out all the kinks and bends. -While the wire is still gripped by cam C and with the operator still pushing back on the lever D, the clamping dog m is thrown down to press the upper strand of the wire down to the twisting position. This further tightens the wire, as will be readily understood. The hand-wheel 'v is then sharply rotated to twist the two ends of the loop and cut the wire ofl. At each backward movement of the lever D, the link L imparts a backward throw to the arm J and through the pawl K turns the ratchet disk G. The friction between the -friction'disk and the hub of the wire reel is suflicient to cause this operation to wind up the wire.

It will be observed that in the machine described, it is necessary to manipulate the lever D a sufficient number of times to wind back upon the reel all of the wire whichhas been drawn off to make a large 100 through which the bundle has been passe and this means that the lever must be manipulated quite a number of times. If such a. lever is not provided, as in the earlier patents to Lowry and Vvintenabove referred to, this wire had to be wound back upon the reel by turning the reel by hand, and this,

as a practical matter, necessitated the at-- ,tendance of an extra workman or.a great reduction in the speed of the operation. One object of the present invention 1s to provide mechanism for automatically takin up on to the wire reel this excess of wire w ich was drawn oif to form the loop, and this improvement is applicable generally to bundling machines of different types, and dispenses in every case with the necessity of turning the w1re reel back by hand or by .hand actuated mechanism provided for the purpose. In conjunction with the machine of the Lowry and lVinter-application referred to, it dispenses with the necessity of repeatedly manipulating the lever D and substantially confines the use of the gripper mechanism to the actual operation of drawing the wire tight about the bundle. The mechanism provided for this purpose comprises, in the specific embodiment illustrated in the drawings, a two-part collar N surrounding the hub of the .wire reel, and having an oft-set bracket arm N on which is pivoted a cam lever 0 (see Figs. 6 and 8). The outer end of this cam lever is connected by a link-O to an actuating lever P splined on an upright rotatably mounted shaft P,

v'ire. trcadle, the upper portion of the stirrup nected by link R to a be-llcrank lever S pivoted at S and connected at its other end to a vertically reciprocating actuating bar T mounted on the trout upright of the machine in a suitable guideway. This actuat-' ing bar has a projecting stirrup frame T, through which passes the long foot treadle Z so that when the treadle is thrown down to depress the plate 2' and the presser-arms, a downward movei'uent is imparted to the bar T. and this movement is transmitted through the connections described to the cam lever O, turning it in such a direction as to 1 lock the cam against the hub of the wire reel and turn the wire reel to wind u the ()n the upward movement 0 the frame T is struck forcibly by the treadle and thrown into the elevated position mov ing the cam lever O in the other direction, during which movement the cam is turned away from the hub of the reelso that the reel is not turned. It will, of course, be understood that these specific mechanical connections for imparting the turning movement to the wire reel are illustrated merely as a convenient arrangement, and may be embodied in man different forms within the spirit of the invention. \Vith this arrangement the wire is drawn more suddenly about the bundle. and its positioning is not so completely within the control of the operator as to insure the proper placin of the wire. Above the upper portion of the bundle, under these circumstances, we provide the guiding lips V a-djustably mounted upon the presscr bars 1 as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, from which it will be observed thatthese lips approach one another closely over the upper portion of the bundle and compel the straight positioning of the wire with respect thereto. Though this arrangement is particularly advantageous in connection with mechanism whereby the wire. is automatically and quickly drawn about the upper side of the bundle, yet, as will be obvious, it is of advantage in other types of bundling machines. In view of the fact that in this improved combination, the arrangement may be such as to rewind practically all of the excess wire upon the reel, it becomes less important to have the re-winding mechanism comprising the link L and the parts actuated thereby, and these parts may therefore be omitted, though we still prefer to use them for the purpose of taking up even that portion of wire which is drawn back by the manipulation of the handle 1).

What we claim is: l 1. A bundling-machine having a bundlesupport, a wire reel, and mechanism for forming a tie of binding wire about a bundle on the support, said mechanism including an actuating lever and connections for reto which also splined lever arm R con-" winding uponthe reel excess wire drawn off during the bundling operation, said actuating lever being in convenient proximity to the bundle-support; substantially as described.

2. A bundling-machine having a bundlesupport, a wire reel, and mechanism for forming a tie of binding wire about a bundle -on the support, said mechanism including an actuating lever and connections for rewinding upon the reel excess wire drawn off during the bundling operation, and an actuating lever and connections for gripping the wire and drawing it tightly about the bundle, both of said levers being in convenient proximity to the bundle-support; substantially as described.

3. A bundling-machine having a bundlesupport, a wire reel, mechanism for turning the reel to re-wind upon it excess wire drawn off in the bundling operation, and an actuating connection for said mechanism extending into convenient proximity to the bundle-support; substantially as described.

4. A bundling-machine having a bundlesupport, a. wire-reel, mechanism for resisting the rotation of the reel to prevent overrunning thereof, mechanism for turning the reel to re-wind upon it excess wire drawn oil in the bundling operation, and an actuating connection for said mechanism extending intoconvenient proximity to the bundle-support; substantially as described.

5. A bundling-machine having a bundlesupport, a wire-reel, mechanism for resisting the rotation of the reel to prevent overrunning thereof, mechanism for turning the reel to rewind upon it excess wire drawn off in the bundling operation, an actuating connection for said mechanism extending into convenient proximity to the bundlesupport, and gripper-mechanism including an actuatlng lever for gripping the wire and drawing it tightly about the bundle, said actuating lever also being in convenient proximity to the bundle-support; substantially as described.

6. A bundling-machine having a bundlesupport and presser-arms movable into engagement with a bundle on the support to hold it during the bundling operation, mechanism for actuating the presser arms, a wire-reel from which wire may be drawn to form a tie of binding wire about the bundle. and connections between the presserarm actuating mechanism and the wire-reel whereby the excess wire is rewound upon the reel when the presser-arms are moved into the bundle-holding position; substantially as described.

7. A bundling-machine having a bundle support and means for applying a binding wire to a bundle on the support, said means including a twister head mounted for reciprocation in proximity to the support mechanism for reciprocating the head, a

wire-reel, and connections between the said actuating connection for said mechanism ineluding a treadle in convenient proximity to the bundle-support; substantially as described.

9. A bundling-machine hav ng a bundlesupport and presser-arms movable into engagement with a bundle on the support, a wire reel, an actuating lever and connections for turning the reel to rewind upon it excess wire drawn oil in the bundling operation, and a wire guide carried by the presserarms for guiding the wire across the bundle bet-ween the arms as it is wound upon the reel; substantially as described.

10. A bundling-machine having a bundlesupport and presser-arms movable into engagement with a bundle on the support, in combination with a wire guide carried by the resser-arms and adapted to guide the bindingwire across the bundle between the arms; substantially as described.

11. A bundling-machine having a twister, a bundle-table, a transverse slot in the table in line with the twister, presser-arms movable into engagement with a bundle on the table, means for positioning the bindingwire in the slot and in line with the axis of the twister, and a wire guide carried by the presser-arm and adapted to guide the wire across the top of the bundle in line with the axis of the twister; substantially as described.

12. A bundling-machine having a twister, a bundle-support, presserarms movable into engagement with a bundle on the table, means on the support for positioning a loop of the binding Wire in line with the axis of the twister, and a wire guide carried by the presser-arms and having a flaring mouth converging to a narrow throat in line with the axis of the twister; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures, in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT C. LOVVRY. FREDERICK EMMERICH. Witnesses:

JOSEPHINE MCGUIRE, WILLIAM H. DAVIS. 

